Bongdam grilled fish restaurant, a short drive from Suwon: Hwadamga

What is Hwadamga? Bongdam grilled fish with an unlimited side-dish bar

Hwadamga is a wood-fired grilled fish Korean restaurant near Suwon University in Wau-ri, Bongdam. On a nice weekend I went looking for a Korean restaurant near Suwon with good side dishes to visit while out for a drive, and ended up at Hwadamga, a well-known grilled fish spot in Bongdam.

Hwadamga A grilled fish restaurant in Bongdam Unlimited side-dish bar, great barley rice

Hwadamga location, hours and parking in Bongdam

Hwadamga ✔️ Address 58 Nangnaegi-gil, Bongdam-eup, Hyohaeng-gu, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do ✔️ Hours Daily 11:00 – 22:00 Break time: 15:00 – 17:00 Last order: 21:30 ✔️ Parking Private lot in front of the restaurant Group dining available

It's located in Bongdam near Suwon University in Wau-ri. What I liked right away was the large private lot in front of the restaurant. Parking can be a bit of a hassle when a family goes out together, so having a spacious, unhurried lot right at the front door was really convenient.

Inside Hwadamga: dining room mood and private rooms

The inside of Hwadamga was bigger than I expected — clean overall with a calm, traditional Korean restaurant mood. Seating is mostly 4–6 person tables, and they're spaced apart rather than crammed together, so it felt comfortable to eat.

There are also separate private rooms you can use. They looked good for family gatherings or group work dinners with several people.

Hwadamga menu and what I ordered

The wood-fired mackerel set, bori-gulbi set, charcoal-grilled pork set, and herbal boiled pork set are the recommended menus. Besides the lunch sets, there's a range of dinner menu items too, like pork belly and Korean beef sirloin. I ordered the wood-fired bori-gulbi set and the wood-fired grilled hairtail set.

What's on the unlimited side-dish bar at Hwadamga?

What I liked most about Hwadamga was the unlimited refill Korean side-dish bar!!! You can take as much as you want of everything except the main fish, and it's definitely not a bar with just a few types of kimchi or pickles.

There was plenty to go with meat too — lettuce, perilla leaves, salad, garlic, chili peppers. It'd go nicely with the boiled pork or pork sets. There's japchae (glass noodle stir-fry) and meatballs too haha.

Rice is served first, but if you want more you can choose either white rice or barley rice for refills.

There's quite a variety — home-style side dishes like stir-fried zucchini, seasoned bean sprouts, stir-fried bracken fern, stir-fried seaweed stem, seasoned bellflower root, stir-fried anchovies, pickled perilla leaves, along with seaweed soup and vegetables.

You all know sujanghyangmi rice is good, right? I heard it's Hwaseong-grown rice, and it's right here haha. They have a sujanghyangmi hot-pot rice menu.

This is the doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) that comes with the set. They don't skimp on the shiitake mushrooms, chunked in generously, so the stew has a subtle mushroom aroma and tastes great.

Once I brought over the side dishes, the rice, seaweed soup, and doenjang jjigae were already set out 😊

Once the whole table was set, it felt like being at a fancy hanjeongsik (Korean set-meal) restaurant 🌟 The side dishes weren't just there to pad out the count — each one was genuinely made with care, seasoned just right and delicious.

How do the wood-fired hairtail and bori-gulbi taste?

The wood-fired bori-gulbi and wood-fired grilled hairtail. The hairtail had fairly thick flesh, grilled golden brown on the outside while the inside stayed moist and tender.

There was no dryness or fishiness — the fish felt genuinely fresh, and it was mild enough to pair well with all the different side dishes.

Barley rice mixed with gangdoenjang soybean paste

Mixing barley rice with a few of the seasoned vegetables and ganjang doenjang paste made for absolute honey-flavored bliss. Sesame oil and gochujang (chili paste) are also on the table.

Flaking off the nicely grilled fish and piling it right onto the rice — nothing to envy after that hahaha.

Bori-gulbi eaten with rice steeped in green tea

The bori-gulbi had that distinctive salty, savory depth, with chewy, nutty flesh. Eaten with warm rice, it's a true rice thief!

They gave us green tea, so I steeped my rice in it. Eating it with the green tea rice felt much cleaner — it reset the saltiness lingering in your mouth, and the fish flavor came through clearly again afterward. Addictive.

Why Hwadamga works for a family meal with parents

Hwadamga isn't just a place with good grilled fish — it's a place where you get a proper full spread of grilled fish and Korean side dishes. Since you can help yourself to whatever side dishes you like at the self-serve bar, I'd highly recommend it to anyone who loves barley rice and Korean food. Parking is easy too, so it's a great spot for a meal with parents while out on a day trip to Bongdam near Suwon 👍🏻